Recording data relating to the taking of a picture has many potential applications for a photographer. For example, the date, time and location that the picture was taken can be used later in organizing prints. Sound can also be captured at the time of picture taking or later as an annotation. The recent advances in magnetic and optical storage on film, and digital memory have made it very practical to store this supplemental data on the film or in the camera.
Supplemental information relating to particular prints can be stored on separate media that is stored with the prints. For example, supplemental information can be stored on magnetic discs or tapes, or electronic memory elements, or on optical memory elements. This approach has the shortcoming that corresponding prints and media must be physically separated to retrieve the stored information. For example, a magnetic disc is placed in a disc drive to access information. There is a risk that, once separated, the prints and corresponding media will not be reassociated properly after information retrieval.
Supplemental information can be recorded on or attached to a print. For small amounts of supplement information, it is practical to print alphanumeric information directly on the front or back of the print. For large amounts of supplemental information, this is impractical, particularly on the front of the print. Supplemental information can be recorded in media attached to the print. For is cumbersome, particularly for retrieving the information. A non-image area can be added to the print to accommodate the supplemental information. For example, a visible bar code can be placed on a non-image area of a front surface of a print. This is also cumbersome, since the image area must be reduced or the overall size must be increased to add the non-image area.
The reverse side of a photographic print is available for supplemental information such as a bar code placed on the print or affixed on a sticker. This approach has the shortcoming that the supplemental information is unavailable unless access is provided to the back of the print. In photo albums, this doubles the thickness, since alternate pages present faces and backs of photographic prints.
Photographic albums are known in which supplemental information is recorded in the album leaf rather than photographic prints retained by the leaf. Some of these albums use incorporated playback devices. This adds complexity and, if repeated for each page, is costly. Other albums have memory storage units for each leaf or page. Removable memory units present a risk of loss. Non-removable memory units attached to the leaves are cumbersome to use. Visible printing on album leaves presents the same problems as on photographic prints. Printing directly on album leaves also is costly if printing mistakes are made and impairs any rearrangement of photographs after a leaf is printed.
Systems are known for storing supplemental information on photographic prints or other printed material using printed matter which is invisible to the human eye under normal viewing conditions. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/931,575, filed Sep. 16, 1997, discloses the use of a printed invisible encodement on a photographic image to record sound information. The encodement is read by illuminating using a beam of invisible electromagnetic radiation that is subject to modulation by the encodement. The resulting encodement image is captured, decoded, and played back. The invisible radiation image is captured using a reader that is capable of capturing only invisible images within a selected band. (The term "band" is used herein to refer to one or more contiguous or non-contiguous regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The term "invisible" is used herein to describe material which is invisible or substantially invisible to the human eye when viewed under normal viewing conditions, that is, facing the viewer and under sunlight or normal room illumination such as incandescent lighting.) The invisible image is produced by development of a photographic emulsion layer, inkjet printing, thermal dye transfer printing or other printing method. The encodement is a one or two-dimensional array of encoded data. This approach is convenient, but requires printing on the face of the photographic prints. To avoid problems, the materials used, including materials in the layers of the photographs are selected to avoid undesirable interactions. For new prints this is easy, but for existing prints this is very difficult. It is also likely that for many people, subjecting valued photographs to a elective modification, and thus risking even a small chance of damage or loss, is unacceptable.
Photographic album pages and other photograph mounts have been made using a variety of different constructions. U.S. Pat. No. 4,702,026 discloses album pages having a pair of flexible, transparent plastic sheets sealed together to form pockets. U.S. Pat. No. 3,865,668 discloses album pages having transparent plastic overlay sheets on each side of a support.
It would thus be desirable to provide an improved photograph holder assembly and album in which supplemental information is not printed on an album leaf or other holder, but is available from the front of a photograph as the photograph is viewed in the holder.